MEMA Warns People to Clear Snow Off Their Roofs

Published at 4:36 PM EDT on Mar 21, 2014

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(NECN) - MEMA's Peter Judge says they've only had a handful of roof collapses this year, but the agency has brought in Urban Search and Rescue team, a federal asset that helps retrieve people from rubble.

The few collapses in Massachusetts have mostly happened in places like vacant warehouses or gas stations.

There are many misconceptions about what causes a roof to actually collapse, but now that snow is turning into freezing rain around New England, that rain and ice will soak into the snow that's already there like a sponge, weighing down the entire roof.

Judge urges people to put pressure on the anyone who is responsible for removing snow from a roof to get it done before it's too late.